You will probably be fine with a righting bag. You can always look into fabricating a righting pole from an old windsurfer mast. They are less than $100 used. Just call your local shop. They also make nice spin poles.

I weigh 185lbs. Swam the mast around into the wind. Ensured main & jib sails unclipped. The wind pulled her over with my weight. The probelm was that the wind was so strong it pulled me right over the other way (the boat came up then, flipped the other way leeward 180degrees). Seems to me that in high winds , the jib needs to be furled. Anybody else got any ideas on how to prevent 180 degrees flips? The other problem is that the wind will not hold the mast into the wind when she's down. The wind tends to rotate a downed Getway so that the mast is leeward.

From a safety perspective, after righting the boat twice, I decided to wait for help as I was just too pooped to try it one more time. 2 rescue boats came to my aid. When we finally got her up, the boat took off like a shot despite the fact that both sails were not tensioned in any way. With 1 hand on the boat I body surfed along side and had just enough energy left to pull myself aboard.

where do you all keep your righting bag when sailing?? When i pitchpoled, my righting bag was stuffed underneath the tramp in the center webbing of the tramp...seems you'd want to be able to access it from the top of the tramp to throw it over the hull....any suggestions?

I have my rope for my bag attached to the rings that the righting bungee runs through. I have it tied in a triangle so that I can adjust the height by pulling the loop up or down. The rest of the cord I wrap around the bag after I have folded and rolled it so its about 6â€

thats how i have my bag too, however take me thru the steps of what you do with the bag once you capsized....its my understanding that once you capsize, you need to swim to the topside of the tramp and throw the bag over the airborne hull (isnt this hard to do when its windy??) the swim around, stand on the hull, fill the bag with water, lean back with the bag over your shoulder and right the boat.....am i wrong? is there another way>

The rope that comes with the bag has a loop in end. Take this end and run the rope through the stainless steel O rings that your bungee cord also goes through. Take the bag end and pull it through the loop on the far end and keep pulling. Your righting bag line should now make a big loop along the the cross bar under the mast.

You should be left with about 5 feet of line. I'm not around my boat to measure. Fold the bag, roll it up a little, and then wrap the most of the cord around it and stick it halfway through the tramp lacing and clip the bag clip onto the lacing from the bottom side.

Once your boat launches you into the water. Unlock all the sail lines. I usually spin my jib up if the cord isn't stuck.

Get up on you hull on the bottom side. Pull the bag out. You can adjust the line by grabbing the 3 way intersection of the line and pulling up or down. Dip the bag and stand up and out at a good righting angle.

Depending on you how tall you are you may need to shorten a line. I'm sure it would be easier with the line going over the hull but I don't see this happening on the getaway although it is pretty easy to climb to the top hull if you have wings.

Once in the water, just wad the bag in one hand and stuff through the tamp lacing and get back on the boat.

Yes it is. I however do not like fighting to throw the bag over the hull and into the wind or turning my boat around and then getting the bag. If I turn my boat in a good wind I can get it up with out a bag. 6'2" 200.

Also I like stuffing my bag away the second my boat's up again. I once had a water bag turn into a sea anchor pulling me towards a bridge. While pulling in it I happened to tip the boat again.

I like the bag to get up quick and in any direction to the wind before a power boat feels that I need to be saved from a nice refreshing dip.

Was flipping through channels last night and on the court TV network the lifeguard show (something beach). They were sent out to rescue an overturned cat. I believe this is fimlmed in San Diego, and sure eough it was a Getaway seemigly siingle handed sailor and he sure did seem lost. They held up the mast bob for him and over it went. I hope they are there for me!